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Sunday, March 5, 2017

How I organize my starts - Rotation - 10-a-day

WARNING!! Very very long post.

Hi Blogger Friends. Thank you for all of the nice comments and suggestions on my last post. You all are truly the best friends.
I have had several gals ask me how I keep track of all my starts. I am going to try and explain it. First of all I am from the very old school and like pen and paper. I don't trust modern technology. I don't even have a cell phone. My husband has one and I don't even know how to turn the stupid thing on. Without this computer though I would never have met all of you - my awesome blogger friends.

Here are a couple binder pages. I have the name of the chart, designer, fabric color, date started and date finished. My number system is kinda wacky but it works for me. I keep all my starts in gallon zip bags except the BAP's are in bigger ones. I have a sticky dot on the bag with the start number that goes with the number in the binder.

If I am looking for a certain project it does take a few minutes to go through all the pages in the binder. I also don't have 756 gallon bags. Each set like Lizzie Kate Stamps, Blessings, etc. are in one bag each. The 26 little alphabet charts I started last April are in one bag. The 24 little city charts by Tiny Modernist are in 4 bags in alphabetical order. The Clouds Factory starts from this year are in 5 bags in alphabetical order. You get the idea. I have most of them stored in 3 plastic tubs like this one. Most all of the sets are in a plastic 3 drawer storage thing in the living room next to my stitching spot.

That's really it. Easy peasy.

I decided last Sunday that I am not going to do the April A - Z Challenge anymore. You don't sign up on their blog. They have a facebook page (not even a group). They will do a post each day for the letter and you have to leave a comment with a link to your blog post. More trouble than I care to be bothered with. (This week has been the first in many many months that I haven't had a stress headache everyday.) I am very happy with my decision.

So for the past week I have been working on my Ten-a-day projects. I haven't made a lot of progress but I don't care. I WILL get caught up just like I did with starts last year. I have one caught up:

Sweet Spring by Satsuma Street - Weeks 1 thru 9

I have also been working on The Mad Hatter. My new obsession. I added 1350 stitches for a total of 2525. Geez it might take me all year to get caught up on this one.

I will be doing a lot more stitches on them until I get caught up. After that it should only take me a couple hours a day to work on them so that will give me the evening to work on other projects. I had the random number generator pick the next ones. I will work on them for as long or as little as I want until one is done than I will pick another.

8. Pretty Little Berlin by Satsuma Street - Started 1-15-17 - I only had 5 non Clouds Factory starts this year and the RNG was nice to me and picked this one.
9. the Beaver from Prairie Lodge by Prairie Schooler - started 11-25-16
10. Bazinga by Clouds Factory - started 1-22-15
11. I am going to start with Aladdin by Clouds Factory started in January and stitch one character. It could take a day, week or month. I don't care. When its done I will go to the next chart, etc. When I reach the end of the alpabet I will start over until they are all done.
12. ???? Right now I am very obsessed with The Mad Hatter. I am either going to pull out a BAP that is started or start another one from MrsPeggottyArts.

I will be doing a weekly update on Sundays. If you made it this far THANK YOU. I think I've rattled on long enough.

Thanks for stopping by. Linda

PS You can click on any picture to enlarge. (We live in the sierra foothills at about the 1200' elevation. We are suppose to get snow today, tonight and tomorrow. Oh YEAH. Yes Sheldon, that is sarcasm.)

21 comments:

Wow! You are so very organised - I start January super organised and by March all semblance of order has gone - Pouf! Just like the Genie in Aladdin! You always have such gorgeous projects, Linda, just lovely!

Snow at 1500 feet?! Holy cow, that doesn't bode well for us in AZ. That is, depending on if this storm gets used up there where you're at and which direction it goes. Keep warm, Linda! I like your numbering system and seeing how I have just 31 WIPs, I can do that. I've seen the Sweet Spring design stitched up on FB and its really pretty. Have fun with the Mad Hatter!

I really am impressed by your organization as well. We just moved a couple of months ago, and I am dreaming of having my craft room all organized and put together - maybe then I can start rotating my WIPS....I did say dreaming. I don't even know how many I have at this moment eek. I will keep watching you and get good vibes that way.

I'm really impressed with your organisational skills, I start out with good intentions and may stick to it fro a while but before you know it everything's in a muddle again haha. I don't blame you for dropping something that causes you stress who needs it, just do what you enjoy. :) xx

I am also an old school girl like you and have a stitching journal. And I can easily find everything in there. And I am sure that it doesn't take you more than a minute to find what you are looking for in your binder.Good luck with your rotation. I also love to have the number generator decide about my next project.

That is a wonderfully simple way to document your starts, it's really all you need. I might possibly have a page per designer or letter of the alphabet to make it easier to find them but this is quite adequate.Love your Ten-a-Day plans too. I think I have a project for the 100-a-day next year.

As a techie person myself, I rarely do anything too techie when it comes to stitching other than use a time clock app. I do use a PDF app to find specific stitches, but I still use paper charts because I don't trust the app to save my mark off's properly. You are way more organized than I am! As many charts are you do, you are amazing!

Your system is very impressive, Linda! You are a lot more organized than I. Not having stress headaches is a good thing. I think you're on the right track with notching back on some of your stitching commitments.

WOW you are very organized Linda! You have worked out a system that seems to work perfect for you. I keep track of my info in a spreadsheet on my computer and I keep two copies of that file; one on my computer and one on an external drive just in case one or the other has a problem! I only have about 14 or 15 WIPs and my box is NOWHERE near as neat as yours! LOL I think I have some work to do this week.

I love Sweet Spring but then I have a bunny weakness LOL. Glad you are having less stress since your decision about the April SAL!! See ya next week ;)

I'm very behind in blog reading, so catching up. I really like that system. I should probably pick something like that as well, although I'm trying to finish what I have instead of starting new ones... though being more organized would make it easier to start new ones.. hmmmm. Thank you, I think, for sharing your system.

Pen and paper works for me too.... although I will admit to typing up my list of starts/finishes and printing them off! But for the most part all of my stitching notes go into a diary that sits near my stitching chair.I really like your new way of thinking... after all stitching is supposed to be fun not stressful :o)Enjoy!Hugs x

About Me

I am overly plump, bald, and retired. Been married to the love of my life for 20 years. We have bengal and sphynx cats and 2 miniature schnauzers. I love to cross stitch, crochet and work jigsaw puzzles. 20 year breast cancer survivor.